-The United Nations Food systems will need to change significantly to tackle severe nutrition problems that currently afflict more than half of the world's population, experts told a United Nations meeting in Rome today. "It is clear that the ways in which food is managed today are failing to result in sufficient improvements in nutrition. The most shocking fact is that over 840 million people still suffer from hunger today, despite the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: About 250 million adults consume smokeless tobacco in the 11 countries of the WHO's south-east Asia region, which constitutes 90% of global smokeless tobacco users. India lays claim to 32% men and 18.4% women, who consume smokeless tobacco costing the country $389 million. A study of healthcare costs by Tobacco in India estimated that in 2004, the direct medical costs of treating smokeless tobacco-related diseases in...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: India's march towards being an economically stable nation is threatened not just by global financial issues. Poor health indicators pose an equally big threat. The Harvard School of Public Health has, in a study on economic losses due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), estimated that the economic burden of these ailments for India will be close to $6.2 trillion for the period 2012-30, a figure that is...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The World Health Organisation wants India's public to give up Bollywood songs as caller tunes on their mobile phones and replace them with short health messages from superstars of India's entertainment industry. The global health agency today launched what is being dubbed as the world's first attempt to promote health campaigns via caller tunes, drawing on the voices of 10 personalities from Bollywood and other entertainment sectors. Amitabh Bachchan's...

-The United Nations One in three people is now covered by at least one life-saving measure to limit tobacco use, according to a United Nations report which highlights the progress over the past five years of reducing potential smokers through advertising bans and awareness campaigns. According to the report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2013, the number of people covered by bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship increased by almost 400...